PLUS Fellows Program

Each year, six to ten UC Berkeley graduate students are awarded PLUS Fellow positions. The Fellows work closely with the PLUS city-school team clients to provide customized project deliverables to strengthen the teams' collaborative work together. Fellows receive training and develop unique skills to foster intergovernmental collaboration across city, civic, and public education sectors.

Being a PLUS Fellow was a great opportunity for me to apply the skills I learned in my public policy courses in a real world setting. I gained a unique cross-sector regional perspective on education that I did not have before.

Anna Meier, PLUS Fellow 2014

My experience as a PLUS Fellow sharpened my qualitative research skills by giving me the opportunity to engage directly with district and school leaders in Oakland. The PLUS program does an incredible job of bringing people across disciplines and experiences together to holistically inform local educational policy.

Kate Glassman, PLUS Fellow, 2015

What PLUS Fellows Gain

Project management skills

Professional experience working closely with leaders in local cities and school districts

Professional experience working in a consulting capacity with clients

Enhanced professional networks

Real-world application of their graduate school studies

Program Elements

Fellows Cohort Seminars
Each year’s PLUS Fellows cohort meets three times per semester, usually for about two hours. We envision each cohort as a ‘community of practice.’ As such, the seminars are used to share and discuss each Fellow’s project, explore policy issues found in the projects, and sometimes engage with guest speakers – all in the name of creative policy-focused problem-solving.

Client Meetings and Project Development
As consultants to their clients, each PLUS Fellow will meet periodically with their client as needed and agreed upon throughout year. Each project and client is unique and will entail its own frequency of communication and/or meetings, but the PLUS clients have all agreed to make themselves and/or other staff persons frequently available to the Fellow. This includes: mentoring the PLUS fellow on the project, including a minimum of 3 meetings to provide guidance and feedback on progress of deliverables; setting high expectations for quality of analysis and presentation by the PLUS Fellow; providing necessary relationship-building, contacts, and resources for Fellow to complete his/her scope of work; and providing ongoing feedback on drafts of deliverables prior to completion.

Coaching by CC+S Faculty / Staff
CC+S faculty and staff, led by Deborah McKoy, PhD and Jeff Vincent, PhD, serve as liaison between PLUS city-school teams and Fellows and provide project mentorship to PLUS Fellows. Mentorship includes training in project management, policy analysis, program evaluation, and intergovernmental collaboration across city, civic, and public education sectors. Our aim is to set high expectations for quality of analysis and presentation, providing an invaluable “real-world” policy experience for Fellows. CC+S faculty and staff also mentor Fellows in final deliverable preparation and publicly disseminate project deliverables via the CC+S website.

Research and Project Deliverable Preparation
Over the course of the program, Fellows work with their clients to craft the project scope and conduct the research and analysis. Each project is unique and requires a different set of steps, tasks, and frequency of communication with the client. CC+S works with Fellows and PLUS teams to set up system that promotes success for everyone.

PLUS Roundtable Participation and Presentations
Two policy roundtables are held each year in the PLUS Fellows Program. The Fall Policy Roundtable is typically a small, invited convening of Fellows, PLUS client teams, and CC+S staff. The event serves as the kick-off to the program. It is often the first time Fellows are meeting their client teams. The culmination of the PLUS Fellow experience is the preparation and presentation of a final report and presentation (usually in late April or early May) to school district and city executive leadership at the second, and final, CC+S PLUS Leadership Initiative Policy Roundtable. The final roundtable is sometimes held as a larger, public event that can attract more than 100 attendees.

Past Client-School Teams

Clients have included stakeholders from around the San Francisco Bay Area, including the City of San Francisco, San Francisco Unified School District, Oakland Unified School District, West Contra Costa Unified School District, City of Richmond, the Association of Bay Area Governments, and others. Check out our past PLUS Fellows projects here!

2017-2018 PLUS Fellows

Melissa Henne, Goldman School of Public Policy
Michael Lau, Goldman School of Public Policy
Victor Phu, Goldman School of Public Policy
Sarah Snook, Goldman School of Public Policy
Rhina Torres, Goldman School of Public Policy
Jessie Wesley, Department of City and Regional Planning

PLUS Fellows Alumni

2016-2017

Marina Balleria, Goldman School of Public Policy
Nefara Riesch, Goldman School of Public Policy
Lisa Qing, Goldman School of Public Policy
Daisy Quan, Goldman School of Public Policy
Anna Radoff, Goldman School of Public Policy
Sara Riley, Goldman School of Public Policy

2015-2016

Lilian Chen, Goldman School of Public Policy & School of Public Health Nija Fountano, Department of City and Regional Planning Derrika Hunt, Graduate School of EducationSarah Kolterman, Goldman School of Public PolicyLindsay Maple, Goldman School of Public PolicyCasey McAlduff, Graduate School of EducationTaylor Myers, Goldman School of Public Policy Zohar Perla, Goldman School of Public Policy Abby Ridley-Kerr, Goldman School of Public Policy Diana Rios, School of Pubblic Health Leslie Valencia, Department of City and Regional Planning Keith Welch, Goldman School of Public Policy Eliza Kate Wicks-Arshack, Goldman School of Public Policy & School of Social Welfare

2013-2014

Alejandra Barrio, Goldman School of Public Policy
Desiree Carver-Thomas, Goldman School of Public Policy
Raúl Chavez, School of Social Welfare
Dennis de Guzman Caindec, Graduate School of Education
Francesca Delgado, Goldman School of Public Policy
Julia Ehrman, Department of City and Regional Planning
Margaret Fransee, School of Social Welfare
Maxwell Gara, School of Public Health
Cailey Gibson, School of Public Health
Kate Glassman, Goldman School of Public Policy
Sari Ladin, Goldman School of Public Policy
Alexandra Lozanoff, Goldman School of Public Policy
Anna Maier, Goldman School of Public Policy
Ángel Ross, Department of City and Regional Planning
Justine Wolitzer, Goldman School of Public Policy

2013-2014

Maura Baldiga, Department of City and Regional Planning
Jessica Box, Goldman School of Public Policy
Megan Calpin, Department of City and Regional Planning
Julia Ehrman, Department of City and Regional Planning
Julie Leung, School of Public Health
Anna Maier, Goldman School of Public Policy
Hanna Melnick, Goldman School of Public Policy
Maira Sanchez, Department of City and Regional Planning
Liz Schmid, Department of City and Regional Planning

2012-2013

Roza Do, Department of City and Regional Planning
Darren Gapultos, School of Social Welfare
Heather Imboden, Department of City and Regional Planning
Sachin Jain, Goldman School of Public Policy
Ruth Miller, Department of City and Regional Planning
Chaya Nayak, Goldman School of Public Policy
Joseph Schuchter, Graduate School of Education

2011-2012

Aixle Aman, Goldman School of Public Policy
Roza Do, Department of City and Regional Planning
Jocelyn Everroad, Goldman School of Public Policy
Darren Gapultos, School of Social Welfare

2010-2011

Victoria Laws, Goldman School of Public Policy

2009-2010

Seenae Chong, Graduate School of Education
LeConte Dill, School of Public Health
Kris Hartley, Department of City and Regional Planning
Reino Makkonen, Graduate School of Education
Paul Perry, Goldman School of Public Policy
Adrianne Wheeler, Department of City and Regional Planning

2008-2009

Ary Amerikaner, Goldman School of Public Policy and Boalt Hall School of Law
Dylan de Kervor, School of Social Welfare
Kristen Ferris, Goldman School of Public Policy
Jason Hirschhorn, Haas School of Business
Jordan Klein, Department of City and Regional Planning
Mara Larsen-Fleming, Goldman School of Public Policy and School of Public Health
April Suwalsky, Department of City and Regional Planning

2007-2008

Samir Bolar, Haas School of Business
Tamar Cooper, Department of City and Regional Planning and Department of Landscape Architecture
Laura Henry, Goldman School of Public Policy
Alissa Kronovet, Department of City and Regional Planning
Cherry Ordonez, Department of City and Regional Planning
Erika Tate, Graduate School of Education
Lynn Wu, Goldman School of Public Policy and Boalt Hall School of Law